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From what I have been told, oxidized steel does not want to forge weld together, hence the need flux or "dry" welding. The surface of stainless steel is in a permanent state of "oxidation" in the form of chromium oxides that inhibite the formation of iron oxide as best as i can understand, so you either need to do a dry weld or use some REALLY aggressive flux that contains stuff like boric acid and some other nasty ingredients along with the normal anhydrous borax. I have a quart jug of some of that "super flux" that I got at Batson's hammer in a couple of years ago. I use a little bit to spike my normal 20 Mule Team borax. I used it by itself once and it tried to eat through the bubble bubble alumina coated ceramic tile that i had in my forge!!! One forging session with that stuff did as much damage to the tile as several with my current mixture does on kiln shelf tile that has not been slip coated with alumina.

Yep. There stuck.. lol Thanks guys for the encouragement. as if we need any extra!
This process is gona take some time. time to refine steps.. etc. This is just the start of something I see growing into many new offering for HHH Knives, from full stainless blades to San Mai and stainless clad blades. Heck at some point during testing and stuff. I plan on offering some pieces to other knife makers to test.

The steel we chose to start this process were what are common in the knife world for stainless damascus. AEB-L and 304 SS
Each billet is 150 layers. and about 12" X 1 1/2 X 3/16" thick.

Are we havin fun YET!?!?!?

Inspired by God, Forged by Fire, Tempered by Water, Grounded by Earth, Guided by the spirit.. Randy Haas